How old is Riley Gaines?

Riley Gaines is an American former professional swimmer who is also known for her advocacy, political stance and activism. She has built a reputation in sports and pop culture and sports politics. She was born in Gallatin, Tennessee, in April 2000. She was raised in a household which was not unfamiliar to the sports field. Her father Brad Graines was a football player at Vanderbilt University, and her mother Telisha Gaines was an accomplished softball player. Being a child of a professional athlete couple she naturally entered competitive sports,

Riley GainesC attended Station Camp High School in Gallatin, where she practised swimming competitively. In junior competitions, she won in the 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter freestyle at the TISCA High School Swim & Dive Championship in Knoxville in 2017. She also excelled in academics too.

Later she joined the University of Kentucky, where she became a member of the NCAA swim team. Riley Gaines quickly gained attention through her performance and got into the All-SEC Second Team in 2019 and 2020, solidifying her status as a rising star in swimming.

In the 2021 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships elevated her profile. Gaines secured second place in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay and seventh place in the 200m freestyle race and into the All-SEC First Team that year. In 2022, she became the Southeastern Conference Women's Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Outside the swimming pool, she got herself entangled into political discourses, debates and endorsements. In March 2023, Gaines was dragged into a heated public debate as she addressed a Texas Senate Committee in support of legislation aimed at restricting transgender college athletes from competing according to their gender identity. She believes that biological women are put in an unfair situation when they have to compete with transgender athletes. The Commitment to the cause and active participation in political discourses and protests have often put her in several difficult situations, including a public protest at San Francisco State University, where she reported being physically assaulted.

Even after heated controversies surrounding her advocacy, Gaines continued to stand strong with her beliefs. In June 2023, she endorsed Ron Desantis in the 2024 US presidential election and testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing conducted for LGBTQ civil rights.

Some people hail her as a champion of women's sports and also women's rights. While others shun her for being adversarial towards the trans community.Her selfless commitment to the cause has kept her in the spotlight of political debates especially because of her endorsement of the Presidential candidate Ron Desantis in the 2024 US presidential election campaigns.

Riley Gaines Age

Riley Gaines was born on April 22, 2000 in Gallatin, Tennessee to Brad Graines and Telisha Gaines. She is 23 years old. By the age of 12, Riley Gaines started competing in swimming competitions due to the support of her parents who also used to be professional athletes. Besides her swimming career, she is famous for her stand on the exclusion of the trans community from competing in the women’s sports category because she believes that it's unfair to biological women. Her advocacy of the issue, put her in the spotlight of the gender politics world wide garnering lots of attention from supporters of the cause and the opposers.

Riley Gaines Physical Attributes

Riley Gaines Height

Riley Gaines is 175 cm or 5 feet 9 inches ( 5’ 9’’ ) tall.

Riley Gaines Weight

Riley Gaines weighs around 60 kgs or 136 lbs.

Riley Gaines eyes and hair color

Riley Gaines’ eyes are blue in color. Even though she flaunts blonde hair, her natural hair color is brown.